Tag Archives: Mt Airy

MIY Artistry LLC is a gathering place in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where patrons can get in touch with his or her crafty side. We believe in bringing people together to work on individual crafts from out project menu, while providing a relaxing environment. If a customer is not in touch with his or her crafty side we hope to offer a fun experience for him or her to get in touch with that side.

I met the owner, Sabrina Price-Powell, at a recent head shot session in my studio. This former analyst and director had an experience on a trip and the idea for MIY Artistry was born. I love when people reach a point ion their life and decide to change it up and follow their passion. No matter how old you are, inexperienced or gun shy pull the trigger and go for it!

I was honored to be a part of her “tribe” as she called the people in the room this Saturday at a small gathering in the Glenside shop . Some of the crafts you can make are, luggage tags, wallets, flasks, passport holder and bracelets.

A new venture. new space and new friends all await at MIY Artistry. The official opening is on February 12th 2019. Go see Sabrina and her crew in Glenside! 107 S Easton Road, Unit 105 A Glenside, PA 19038

The college application process can seem intimidating, especially if students don’t have parents or siblings who have already been through it and can offer advice.

Since there are so many steps, such as writing an essay and obtaining letters of recommendation, experts say a good way for students to get started is to create a to-do list during their junior year of high school.

Though there is often prep work that happens beforehand, students generally begin filling out college applications the summer between their junior and senior year of high school, experts say.

Some College applications are requiring photos! Especially performing art schools and conservatories. It is hard enough to get accepted, make your best impression with professional admission pics! A great way to complete your package!

Yep, that’s a Furness all right

This large home at 7318 Boyer Street in East Mt. Airy stands out with its whimsical exterior, a mishmash of Victorian stick style and Queen Anne architecture. It all makes sense though once it’s learned that Frank Furness was the brains behind the design.

The 3,400-square-foot house was designed by the local architect in 1855 and built by Francis Innes Gowen & the Tourison Brothers as part of the Gowen Estate. The period architecture is evident from the get-go and the home’s bottom half is wrapped Wissahickon Schist stone.

Behind the front dutch door are hardwood floors, French doors, big bay windows, and original fireplaces, including one that features Henry Mercer tiles. There are also two side porches on this level, including a screened-in sunroom and an open deck off the updated kitchen that looks over the property’s big backyard.

Tia could see a glimmer of light on the next phase of the parent trip.

Reece, her oldest, was in kindergarten; Riley was potty-trained. Tia had taken up jogging and thought she might sign up for a race. Maybe she and Kevin could steal away to Las Vegas, stay in a luxe hotel, and see a magic show. Or she could take a mini-vacation to Hilton Head with her mom-pals, leaving the kids behind.

“I started to plan things for myself; I saw my life as a full life, not solely dedicated to mommy-hood,” she says. She’d even asked Kevin — “nicely, then not so nicely” — to get a vasectomy; he’d gone for a consultation, then balked after reading articles about the procedure.

In May, a drugstore test stick flagged a different kind of future.

“It felt like a dream died,” Tia says. “Like I had to put myself on hold again.”

Kevin made the vasectomy appointment and embraced the idea of a third child. “My level of acceptance came almost immediately,” he recalls. “I became excited, and I crossed my fingers for another girl.”

As a teen, even as a young adult, he hadn’t wanted children. “I was independent and didn’t really see family as being a fit for me.” But he knew he loved Tia practically from the moment they met, when he was a landlord showing her apartments in North Philadelphia.

He offered to help her move, then upped the ante by asking her out to dinner. “I was taken aback because he’s white and I’m black; I thought: Is this white guy crossing the racial barrier and asking me out on a date?” Tia recalls. “It was clear that he was interested in me, and I didn’t know what to do with that.”

Tia missed her family in Birmingham, Ala., and soon found kinship with Kevin’s parents and siblings in West Chester. “We meshed well as a family,” she says.

After one dramatic date — they joined an impassioned crowd to hear Houston mega-church preacher Joel Osteen at the Wells Fargo Center — Kevin said, “You know, tonight, when we were praying, I thought that you might be my wife.”

But before he had a chance to propose, Tia was pregnant. “I never had a thought of: Is this what we want?” she says. “I knew Kevin was a hard worker and that he valued family.”

The pregnancy was an easy float — no morning sickness, not even a swollen ankle — and the couple did their homework, driving from Wynnefield to prenatal yoga classes on South Street, hiring a doula, planning for a drug-free birth at Lankenau Medical Center. On the way there, with Tia’s mom in the car, they chorused that Black Eyed Peas tune: “I got a feeling … that tonight’s gonna be a good night.”

Instead, Tia gritted her way through a 14-hour labor. “I’d never had menstrual cramps, so I had no idea what to expect of a contraction. They knocked me off my feet. … But I remember when they put her on my chest. Unbelievable. Just a second ago, you weren’t here, and now … it took my breath away.”

The early days of parenting, like birth itself, were treacherous: Why was the baby crying? Why was she losing weight? Would Tia’s milk supply ever come in? “The best advice I got was: ‘It’s OK; you don’t know her, and she doesn’t know you. You’re going to get to know each other.’ ”

They wanted a second child, ideally two years behind the first. When conception didn’t happen quickly, they consulted a fertility specialist who advised patience, along with a procedure to clear Tia’s fallopian tubes. She was pregnant the next month.

Tia’s contractions began on Thanksgiving; she remembers seeking refuge in the shower, gripping the edge of the soap dish as each wave of pain swelled and subsided. By the time they drove to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, with the “low fuel” light glowing, she was almost fully dilated. She pushed for 10 minutes: another wide-eyed girl kangarooed to her chest.

The third time around, friends and acquaintances assumed they were trying for a boy. “People can’t accept that a man and a woman could be happy with just their two girls,” Tia says. Nevertheless, when they sliced the cake — blue! — at a gender reveal party, her eyes filled with tears.

The pregnancy was easy; the effect on her older kids, harder. On a mommy/daughter trip to a Jersey amusement pier, Reece hopped on most of the rides by herself. “It made me sad. I could feel her leaving me faster because of this other baby that I had to make space for.”

Mason arrived a few days before Christmas, after a swift, induced labor. “I kept saying to the midwife, ‘I can’t do it; I’m not strong enough,’ and she said, ‘Yes, you can.’ And she was right.”

With three children, Tia has found, it’s harder to multitask; someone is always seeking her attention. It helps to take a Zen approach to the kids’ needs. “I’ll find myself asking, ‘Why are you so upset that they aren’t lying down right now?’ If I accept that they need an extra kiss tonight, it’s much easier than fighting that.”

Kevin agrees: “You can never prepare yourself for the level of attention kids need,” including the moment he walks in the door from work, when Riley typically charges him with a cry of “DADDY!” and Reece, already affecting a teen’s diffident attitude, sometimes follows suit. Mason might flash one of those moist, gummy grins.

And in the midst of each day’s juggle, in the thicket of exhaustion, Tia can see glimmers — not of freedom, but of fulfillment. “When I see Riley talking to Mason in baby talk, or when Reece says, ‘I just can’t stand it; I have to give him a kiss,’ that is great,” Tia says. “It does feel like this is our family; this is complete.”

Book your senior session by July 1,2016 and save $50.00 off the “Full Package.”

215-247-7548

*more information below gallery.

Senior portraits represent who you are and how your friends and family will remember you. The images should capture the youth and life of a young adult about to move on to the next chapter.

Brian James Photo Studio’s goal is to capture the most important events of your life and give you a once-in-a-lifetime experience. High School Graduation is one of those moments.

In our opinion, a good senior portrait photographer will be able to quickly establish rapport with high school or college students, have the ability to help camera shy subjects look their best and have fun. Brian does just that!

What is included?

During our portrait session we will take several photos that I will edit and send to you via a link for you to view. You will receive a digital gallery of images and select your favorites. You can order prints directly form the site or download the files and have them printed at a service of your choice. I proudly use SmugMug and my clients have always been thrilled with the outcome.

Copyright and print release included.

How much does it cost? Mini Portrait Session
$175.00
20 Minutes, one outfit or “look”
Approximately 5-10 Images to choose from
Completely retouch 1 image

The big day is finally approaching and your pinterest boards are bulging full of ideas from flowers, cakes, welcome tables and especially the photographs. The countless images you have seen and all that you “must” have. This leads me to some do’s and dont’s for your special day. Most photographers have their own style and welcome ideas. However, we are not fans of instructions on duplicating other’s work! If you see an image you absolutely love, by all means show us and see what we can work on together. Hopefully the photographer you hire will have a strong style that you like and will work with you on all of your ideas.

In a somewhat recent article the knot published an article about trends in wedding photography.

The article 14 Hottest Wedding Photography Trends by theknots’s Amy Levin-Epstein begins with the most perfect sentiment about choosing a photographer.

“You want your photographer to be on the cutting edge and know the latest techniques, but you also don’t want your photos to be so trendy that when you look at your shots in 20 years, all you see is something that instantly dates your wedding….”

I wouldn’t call them trends, most of the images are great classic wedding photography examples! Some of these “trends” just need to go. Skip the selfies (#skipselfies) and take out the social media on your special day! By all means you are investing a lot of money, please let the photographer capture the moment! Check out the full14 hottest photography trends article here!

Speaking of hashtags, social media and guests posting photos before you even walk down the aisle, some things are out of your control. Remember that during the big day. It is true, sometimes your wedding guests will capture some great moments, but you hired a professional to do the job, so let us! So many shots are ruined by guests jumping in the frame with their cell phones,cameras,tablets and iPads. That moment cannot be recreated, EVER! Most of us have a clause in our contract protecting us from the wedding guest and their faux pas. In a fantastic article I’ve Had Enough with Wedding Guests Taking Pictures with Phones by photographer Thomas Stewart addresses this problem head on.

“In your invites, tell everyone you’re having an unplugged ceremony: no technology, please, Write it on a chalkboard which guests can see as they arrive on the day. Tell your celebrant/minister/priest to tell the guests at the start of the ceremony. HIRE A PLANE TO WRITE IT IN THE SKY!”

Sure there are trends, ideas, hashtags, social media, guests ruining shots along with many tender moments and fun memories that will be immortalized in your photographs.

I must stress this point as best that I can, “PLEASE ENJOY, enjoy yourself and enjoy the experience!” While the flowers, outfits, food have been meticulously planned they are done so relax. The wrong flower or Uncle Al’s horrible suit clashing with your color scheme will not ruin the day. Your wedding is about the two of you uniting and the love you have for each other.

Most important advice anyone can give you, if you let the little things throw you for a loop and look like miserable wretch the whole day… your faithful photographers can’t do anything about those sour expressions in the photos. 🙂

Family Fall Portrait Sessions still available now through November 19th, 2015.

What is included?During our session we will take several photos that I will edit and send to you via a link for you to view. You will receive a digital gallery of images and select your favorites. You can order prints directly form the site or download the files and have them printed at a service of your choice. I proudly use SmugMug and my clients have always been thrilled with the outcome.
Copyright and print release included.

Investment
Mini Family Session- One Family
$175.00-20 minutes
Group Sitting and images of individual child/children time permitting.
Approximately 16-20 Images to choose from

Single Family Session- One Family
$325.00- 60 Minutes
Group Sitting,Shots of individual Children and a Sibling Pose, time permitting.
Full Digital Gallery